Where the consequences of open borders politics are sitting right next to you, white high schoolers overwhelmingly chose survival in 2016

Annualized rate of economic growth slows from 3.2% in 3Q to 2.6% in 4Q 2017

Imports increased, a drag on GDP.

Expect more of the same if Trump & Co. (yeah, I'm talkin' to you Mnuchin) keep talkin' down the dollar.

DXY was trading above 100 as recently as last April, struggled to achieve 95 in November, and now this morning is trading around 89 after Mnuchin's loose lips at Davos.

It would be nice if this administration got its policy act together, on immigration, trade, the dollar, etc. instead of all these comments which imply they are winging it.

So much winging . . ..

That would be "caffeinated" you numbskull

One of these days Trump may float a trial balloon on immigration we actually like, but the latest one is a nonstarter

The story here says he's now offering a pathway to citizenship to nearly 2 million Dreamers.

Trump needs to understand that his voters aren't going to show up for him if he actually signs an amnesty, and that an amnesty just guarantees that the problem won't go away.

Been there, done that. The country's full. They need to go back. All of them.

Trump is boring me to death with these endless iterations when he's not pissing me off with them.

Andy McCarthy ties a nice little bow around his thesis that Hillary wasn't prosecuted because Obama was implicated in her felonies

The presidency long ago became a law unto itself. Occasionally the tyranny becomes more evident, depending on the level of the lawlessness in the heart of the man, or the woman. Good character, unfortunately, matters more than ever, but is increasingly in short supply, in each of us, in our neighbors and in our politicians.  

From the story here:

As his counselors grappled with how to address his own involvement in Clinton’s misconduct, Obama deceptively told CBS News in a March 7 interview that he had found out about Clinton’s use of personal email to conduct State Department business “the same time everybody else learned it through news reports.” Perhaps he was confident that, because he had used an alias in communicating with Clinton, his emails to and from her — estimated to number around 20 — would remain undiscovered. ...

[A]n agitated Mills emailed Podesta: “We need to clean this up — he has emails from her — they do not say state.gov.” (That is, Obama had emails from Clinton, which he had to know were from a private account since her address did not end in “@state.gov” as State Department emails do.)

Correctamundo, Ann: The FBI is first and foremost incompetent

The government shutdown was so boring

And in a few weeks prepare to be bored again.

The problem with Mormon Utah is that it would be OK with having a senator who makes excuses for Antifa violence

A grandmother of Bolshevism over at The American Conservative is upset with her children

Hey, we are the chosen immanentizers of the eschaton, not you!

Kelly Marcum, here:

The left, which continues to decry the social faux pas of cultural appropriation with ever-increasing vehemence, is itself guilty of the very same crime. They, the proponents of a predominantly liberal post-Christian culture, have undertaken a great project of appropriating and reinventing orthodox Christian values. ...

The left has made it its mission to culturally appropriate Christianity and use it for its own ends; in too many cases, it has been allowed to do so and even aided in its efforts by Christians themselves. ...

If orthodox Christianity is to survive in an evermore hostile culture, its practitioners and leaders will need not only to withstand the pressure to accommodate and self-censor, but to repossess their own language and tenets that have been exploited by the left.

Current era GDP growth is underperforming Reagan era growth by 42%

Current era growth of GDP is averaging 4.3% vs. 7.4% during the Reagan era.

That was a boom. This is not.

Sorry, but even by recent standards 2017 was not a booming economy

If essential federal government employees will continue working in a shutdown, haven't we identified who ought to be eliminated?

The non-essential federal employees, who numbered about 850,000 in 2013.

But that would make too much sense for this farce in which we star.

We have the government we deserve.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan says a government shutdown would be wisky, weckless and wong

Of course, when The State is all, and War is the Health of the State, it would be.

Quoted here:

“Sen. Schumer, do not shut down the federal government," Ryan told reporters after the House vote. “It is risky, it is reckless and it is wrong.” Ryan added: “The only people standing in the way of keeping the government open are Senate Democrats. Whether there is a government shutdown or not is entirely up to them.” In order to win Thursday's vote, Ryan struck a deal with Freedom Caucus conservatives shortly before a scheduled floor vote on a spending provision. The agreement, which promised the group a separate vote on military funding, is expected to yield enough votes to secure passage of the spending bill in the House.

Looks like Oprah has passed her sell-by date

It turns out Jeff Flake, easily melted by Donald Trump, really was born in Snowflake, Arizona

Jeff Flake's "free press" hardly covered Hillary's health problems but is obsessed with finding something wrong with Trump's

Laugh of the Day: Trump's new easy peasy weight loss plan

At least now we know that Senator Jeff Flake believes everything he reads in the newspaper

Speech here.

"Of course, a major difference between politicians and the free press is that the press usually corrects itself when it gets something wrong. Politicians don't."

Well har-dee har har har at the last person alive to believe in the free press. Check that. John Kasich was pretty darn moved to receive the endorsement of The New York Times. But, come to think of it, Kasich is another failed politician just like Flake. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Meanwhile The New York Post is still just a buck. Get 'em while they're hot.

Life-altering news from CBS just now: DHS chief Kirstjen Nielsen didn't hear Trump say "shit-hole"

Video here.

You may now go back to your normal activities.

The world's literal breeding ground of insanity is mostly Muslim

Laugh of the Day: Ann Coulter opens Shit-hole Air, one free one way ticket back to the shit-hole of your choice

High-tech Norwegian toilet vs. High Haitian toilet: Any questions?

This one burns it up.

This one should just be burned.

Laugh of the Day: Nitwit cycler surveying the world's literal shit-holes by bike laments "open deification" when she means "defecation"

She botches "defecation" not once ...

I know that's how I like my gods, openly deified. :/

Can't say much for the rest of her English either, but if you need a writer, she wants you to know she's available! Yikes. All that fresh air isn't doing much for her self-awareness now is it? At least she acknowledges the clear superiority of Western toilets.

Here.

... but twice!

Did you know food stamp recipients soared 3,639,173 in October 2017?

An increase of nearly 8.7% from September 2017, the month prior.

We now have 45.6 million on food stamps when a year ago October it was only 43.4 million.

The Florida data is up 2.58 million from September to October due to Hurricane Maria, and Texas is up 1.3 million due to Hurricane Harvey. 

Trump has already caved on The Wall in the "negotiations", settling for 700 miles instead of 2,000

What a loser.

The Washington Times reports here:

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, is seeking a much less dramatic wall than the “sea-to-sea” version he touted during the 2016, campaign, presenting Congress with a scaled-back version that would cover 700 miles and cost $18 billion over a decade — though the president said he figures it can be built much faster and cheaper. ... Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer this week also declined to draw red lines on the wall, saying he saw progress in Mr. Trump no longer seeking a 2,000-mile-long barrier. ... A proposal from the Homeland Security Department, submitted to Congress last week, called for $18 billion in fencing and another $1 billion in new roads to patrol the fencing. The fencing would involve upgrading existing barriers and adding new ones, extending the current 654 miles of barriers to about 970 miles, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Anita Kumar for The News & Observer never once mentions DACA is illegal while bashing Stephen Miller

Open borders Republicans along with Democrats like Dick Durbin are trying to make Stephen Miller the problem when Obama's illegal executive order on immigration is the real offense against the rule of law. Meanwhile feckless members of Congress from both parties would be delighted to have President Trump take all the political heat for a deal SO THAT THEY DON'T HAVE TO.

Anita Kumar is their useful idiot Swamp Thing in the press, here.

Kumar is a former WaPo reporter.

Ann Coulter skewers Donald Trump's utter lack of seriousness

Rand Paul doesn't have much of a memory, or imagination

NeverTrump is so yesterday, now it's . . .

FormerTrump.

Tucker Carlson on DACA: What was the point of running for president if Trump signs on to amnesty?

Story here.

Good on ya, Tucker.

In December 2006 5.094% of the population was unemployed, in December 2017 5.129%

Looks like we ended up liberating Europe in order to destroy it, and ourselves

War on cigarettes but utter capitulation on pot

Oprah's the very definition of unfaithful woman: Turns on a dime

The new McLaughlin Group episode one: Tom Rogan has really porked out since McLaughlin's death

Better watch it buddy or you'll look like Jack Germond before you know it.

You can watch episode one in its entirety, here.

Rogan did a passable job, but appeared nervous and distracted. He'll need to focus and be himself if he wants to moderate the debate to be at all entertaining.

Evan McMullin was a real dud, mixing populism and white nationalism together in his incoherent analysis. Memo to McMullin: Steve Bannon is incoherent, don't imitate him. Pat Buchanan tried to set him straight, but as usual the young don't listen to the old.

The other two old warhorses, Eleanor and Clarence, looked like they were just happy to be there to go through the motions.

then

now

Jack Germond

Real weekly earnings of non-supervisory employees are the same in 2016 as they were in 1980

$749, and that's an improvement.

Discussed here.

"Burlington [Vermont] Man" my foot: Looks like another Muslim Man from out of town to me

Hey Trump, DACA is ILLEGAL, not a bargaining chip

Full-time job growth under Trump: At least America doesn't really suck again

Senator Grassley says Comey's leak of his own memos included classified information

From the story here:

A top Republican senator said Wednesday that it appears former FBI Director James B. Comey leaked classified information in his effort to shape the narrative surrounding President Trump’s decision to fire him. ... He said he’s personally reviewed the seven memos, but was forced to do so in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF. “The FBI insisted that these reviews take place in a SCIF because the majority of the memos are classified,” he said. “FBI personnel refused to answer factual questions during the document reviews, including questions about the chain of custody of the documents I was reviewing, the date that they were marked classified, and who marked them as classified.”

Comey's original memo calling Hillary "grossly negligent" has been released

From the story here:

The full draft, with edits, leaves little doubt that Comey originally wrote on May 2, 2016 that there was evidence that Clinton and top aides may have violated both felony and misdemeanor statutes, though he did not believe he could prove intent before a jury.

Mongrel tastes for a mongrel people

"Rap overtakes rock as the most popular genre among music fans"

Screw the will of the voters: Marijuana is poison and government should fight it

But the new face of Republicanism is a dope, too:

Sessions’ plan drew immediate strong objection from Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, one of eight states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use.

Gardner said in a tweet that the Justice Department “has trampled on the will of the voters” in Colorado and other states. He said the action would contradict what Sessions had told him before the attorney general was confirmed and that he was prepared “to take all steps necessary” to fight the step including holding up the confirmation of Justice Department nominees.

Read the whole thing here.

Scott Rasmussen thinks 15 million will drop Obamacare because now they can, and 6.5 million others already pay a fine

From the story here:

Last year, an estimated 15 million Americans would have dropped out of Obamacare if they could. Now they can. Another 6.5 million paid a fine rather than sign up for coverage. This means that more than 20 million people directly benefit from the repeal of the mandate.

NONE of the increase to working age population aged 25 to 64 since 2005 has gone to household formation . . .

. . . either as renters or homeowners in their own right. They've ALL (and then some) gone to doubling-up on net, mostly with family.

The face of the declining middle class in 2016 was concealed as 15 million more lived in doubled-up households than in 2005

Zillow reported (here) in December that working age adults in 2016 were living in doubled-up households at a rate of 30% compared with 21% in 2005.

That works out to roughly 32 million in 2005 at the 21% rate vs. 50 million in 2016 at the 30% rate, using the Working Age Population data from FRED.

Had the rate remained 21% in 2016, just 35 million would be living doubled-up instead of 50 million. 

That's 15 million more adults who can't afford to buy, and can't even afford to rent, thanks to the feckless performances of George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama.

h/t Jeffrey Snider, Alhambra Investments

Trump disbands election integrity commission over costs to taxpayers of legal battles from state challenges

Way to go, Brownie!

Story here.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, climate update for December 2017

Grand Rapids, Michigan, climate update for December 2017

Max Temp: Actual 61, Mean 53, 2017 Max 96, Mean Max 94

Min Temp: Actual -12, Mean 4, 2017 Min -12, Mean Min -7

Av. Temp:  Actual 24.4, Mean 28.3, Annual Actual 50.3, Annual Mean 48.2

CDD:         2017 Actual 719, Annual Mean 690

Rain:          Actual 1.96, Mean 2.43, Annual Actual 39.43, Annual Mean 34.52

Snow:        Actual 32.9, Mean 16.2, Season to Date Actual 33.5, Season to Date Mean 22.9

HDD:        Actual 1252, Mean 1131, Season to Date Actual 2443, Season to Date Mean 2488 

The warming need as expressed by Heating Degree Days thus far into the cool season increased considerably in December and is now running just 1.8% under the mean to date overall.

The year 2012 remained the warmest full year on record by average temperature at 52.8 F going back to 1898, followed by 1931, 1921, 1998, 2016, 2010, 1938, 1939 and now 2017 at 50.3 F placing ninth. The cooling need in the warm season as expressed by Cooling Degree Days was 4.2% above the annual mean. 2017 actual average temperature exceeded the annual mean average temperature by a similar value, 4.35%. The record year 2012 exceeded annual mean average temperature by 9.5%.

Laugh of the Day: Hillary for Senate . . . from Utah!